Join us in knitting any Hanne Falkenberg design. For inspiration, check out her site http://www.knit.dk/billeder/ref.htm. Choosing a HF kit is a major investment - both financially and in time, so there is no start date or end date. So please, join in!

If you are interested in one of Amy's spreadsheets, you can find information by clicking here.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Pattern Trade

I have Mermaid, Ballerina, Diva, and Pagoda and would love to trade for a pattern I don't have, particularly Studio Long, Profil, Pygmalian, or maybe Skyline.

If you have one you're interested in trading, please e-mail me and let's see if we can work something out - elweyu@hotmail.com

I have done some research into this area of law and the result I have found is this: "Once you buy a pattern, you own the physical pattern and can do as you please with it. You can give or sell it to someone else - but only if you do not keep a copy for yourself, or make copies for anybody else. Owning the physical copy of that pattern only gives you the right to use or dispose of that copy, not make other copies."

This site is a great resource for knitting related copyright questions - http://www.geocities.com/jbtocker/copyright/

Actually, someone from Hanne posted a message early on saying exactly that about owning the pattern and doing what you want with it. She said she had received a number of queries about it and her statement was quite precise. And if you think about it, it is exactly like a book or any other copyrighted material - you buy it, you own it and you can then sell it, trade it, give it away, loan it. You can make a copy for your own use (many people make a copy of a pattern that they mark up as they knit it so that their original remains clear) and that is perfectly legal. It is covered by fair use laws. I am the author of a book and am very sensitive to copyright infringement, but this is NOT it. Trading is NOT stealing.

@anonymus: I agree with you, that basically trading is not stealing. There are shops with second hand books, cds etc., and of course it's legal. But - and this is the problem - most people do trade or give away copies they made of the original pattern (book, cd etc.). This is not the case when selling an item to a second hand dealer, but very often at the internet.

Trading copies will only increase more revenue for Hanne. I've yet to find replacement yarn that will be exact to Hanne's.If you like the pattern then you buy a refill kit. What is the difference in price for a refill kit versus one with a pattern?